Re-use Of Public Sector Information Research Articles

COLLECTION AND REUSE OF DATA BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES

The Act on open data and the reuse of public sector information contains regulations for open data and principles and procedures for making available and providing public sector information for the purpose of reusing them. This act of law is consequential for entrepreneurs and businesses in terms of the creation of products and services based on artificial intelligence where various types of data are used, among others. The Act on open data and the reuse of public sector information significantly affects the collection and reuse of data by local government authorities. The reuse of data by local government authorities can take many forms. One of them is services related to applications based on the data or various legal information systems, maps, dictionaries, or calculators. The article analyses regulations in Polish legislation regarding the collection and reuse of data, particularly by local government authorities.

Where is open data in the Open Data Directive?

The 2019 Directive on Open Data and the Re-use of Public Sector Information draws together two traditions in ensuring proactive access to government data. On one hand, it embraces the concept of ‘open data’, a concept rooted in government accountability and transparency for citizen participation. On the other hand, the directive covers the re-use of non-sensitive public sector information, which is deemed crucial for the internal market and realisation of the European data economy. Indeed, the directive itself is a further iteration of an earlier 2003 directive on the re-use of public sector information. Yet, despite the appearance of a seamless fusion of the different concepts, it is important to interrogate critically to what extent open data is actually incorporated. While the shorthand title for directive the Open Data Directive (ODD), there is a risk that much of the open data movement’s demands fall outside of its purview. Hence, the present paper undertakes a careful analysis of the ODD. It asks firstly, how does the directive align with and diverge from the rationale and requirements of the movement for open data? And secondly, what are the implications of this for citizen participation? The findings show that the original largely technical principles of open data are somewhat respected and incorporated into the ODD but are disjointed from the rationale behind them. References to citizen participation in the directive and supporting documentation, while welcome, risk being little more than window dressing.

Forest protection costs in sustainable forest management. The example of Poland

Purpose: The main aim of the study is to analyze the costs of forest protection incurred by Poland's State Forests and to present the activities performed as part of forest protection. The specific objective is to present the method and place of disclosing and reporting information on actions to prevent damage to the forest and on the costs of forest protec-tion on a general level. Methodology/approach: The considerations in the study are presented against the views presented in the literature on the subject by selected authors. The methods of critical analysis and synthesis, inference, and a case study were used. The data for the analyses were taken from the financial and economic reports of the State Forests for the years 2016–2019, from the statistical studies „Forestry”, and reports obtained as part of the application submitted to the State Forests for the reuse of public sector information. Pearson's linear correlation analysis was used, as well as an agglomeration grouping method – Ward's method – which uses the analysis of variance approach in its procedures. Findings: The scale of forest protection measures varied between State Forests in the analyzed period. The highest costs for forest protection in total are borne by forest dis-tricts located in the area of State Forests in Wrocław, and the lowest costs for forest protection in total are borne by forest districts located in the area of State Forests in Kra-ków. The smallest area protected against insects covers forest districts located in the State Forests in Krakow. With the increase in the costs of forest protection, State Forest’s own costs also increase. The highest relationship was noted in 2017, with a correla-tion coefficient of 0.86. Research limitations: The research sample is limited to one country. Originality/value: The presented voice in the discussion fills the research gap in terms of information about State Forests’ activities to protect the forest and the subsequent costs incurred. The use of Ward’s method allowed similar regional directorates of State Forests to be grouped from the perspective of forest protection costs and protective measures (area approach), which is the basis for extended research in this area from the point of view of the natural diversity of these units (narrowing the research and conducting it in similar State Forests units).

Reuse of the transparency-related information posted on Spanish library and archive websites

This study addresses the types of formats and ease of reuse of transparency-related information available on the websites of 53 national public libraries and 53 provincial historic archives. Further to Spain’s Transparency Act, reuse of public sector information is one of the elements comprising the right of access to information. Access and use must consequently be ensured to enable citizens and businesses to reuse all available data. The working methodology deployed here consisted in searching for, identifying and analysing the transparency-related documents carried on library and archive websites and the legal warnings governing their reuse. The findings revealed a wide variety of formats and rules governing reuse and indications of scant interest in these institutions in fostering the transparency and reuse of public information. Even when available, reusable information was normally found to be posted either separately from the data furnished by libraries and archives directly or positioned on pages or sections with complex access paths.

Influential Factors for the Development of Public Sector Information Re-use Industry in China

Influential Factors for the Development of Public Sector Information Re-use Industry in China

The Value of Marine Spatial Open Data Infrastructures—Potentials of IHO S-100 Standard tο Become the Universal Marine Data Model

Marine spatial “open” data infrastructures (MSDI) have a significant economic and societal potential for coastal nations and their realization is driven by the evolution of the International Hydrographic Organization’s (IHO) S-100 data model for facilitating marine domain interoperability and the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) best practices for spatial data publishing on the Web. The recent European directive on open data and the re-use of public sector information, known as the “Open Data Directive” is a key driver towards the establishment of “open” MSDIs among other spatial data infrastructures. The paper discusses possible data architectures for the MSDIs, examines the maturity of open data platforms that they could be built upon and compares the most prominent marine spatial data models for their applicability in relation to three marine information domains. MSDIs can facilitate the continuous data capturing of spatial-temporal physical phenomena and human activities at sea and coastal areas, the corresponding data analysis and the decision-making for achieving continual improvement in the marine planning and management processes. MSDIs could play a key role in digital government transformation (DGT) for effective data sharing and offering marine services across various stakeholders. The information provided through a MSDI can be used for safe and efficient operation of maritime traffic, exploration and exploitation of marine resources, marine spatial planning (MSP), integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), environmental protection, and naval and maritime security.

Introducing Key Elements Regarding Access to Personal Data for Scientific Research in the Perspective of Developing Innovative Medicines

This article aims at opening discussions and promoting future research about key elements that should be taken into account when considering new ways to organise access to personal data for scientific research in the perspective of developing innovative medicines. It provides an overview of these key elements: the different ways of accessing data, the theory of the essential facilities, the Regulation on the Free Flow of Non-personal Data, the Directive on Open Data and the re-use of public sector information, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules on accessing personal data for scientific research. In the perspective of fostering research, promoting innovative medicines, and having all the raw data centralised in big databases localised in Europe, we suggest to further investigate the possibility to find acceptable and balanced solutions with complete respect of fundamental rights, as well as for private life and data protection.

Centralne Repozytorium Informacji Publicznej jako tryb ponownego wykorzystywania informacji

The Central Public Information Repository (CRIP) was introduced into the legal system by the act of 16 September 2011 amending the act on access to public information. The main goal behind the introduction of CRIP was to support the economic exploitation of information. CRIP’s functions are implemented by the Ministry of Administration and Digitization launching an open public data portal (danepubliczne.gov.pl) in May 2014. So far, CRIP has appeared in the literature in the context of access to public information. However, there is a lack of works on CRIP as a national open data portal to distribute information for re-use. This issue in particular has become increasingly important in view of the adoption by the Council of Ministers of the Public Data Access Program, a government strategy dedicated to public policy in the area of open data. Furthermore, due to the entry into force of the Act of 25 February 2016 on the re-use of public sector information, there is an interesting issue about the scope of the CRIP. The article analyzes CRIP regulations in terms of their effectiveness for the implementation of the right to reuse and the policy of open data. The article concludes the findings of the analysis and attempts to propose de lege ferenda conclusion.

Przenikanie się cywilnoprawnych i administracyjnoprawnych elementów w nowych procedurach administracyjnych na przykładzie postępowania w sprawie ponownego wykorzystywania informacji sektora publicznego przekazywanych na wniosek

The article analyses the fundamental and specific institutions of special administrative proceedings concerning re-use of Public Sector Information. The analysis aims at identifying how civil and administrative law elements penetrate each other, forming new procedural institutions. The findings show that the shape of those institutions is justified by the specific subject matter of the proceedings. For the same reason a wider application of these new institutions is rather unlikely.

Raising interoperability among base registries: The evolution of the Linked Base Registry for addresses in Flanders

The transformation of society towards a digital economy and government austerity creates a new context leading to changing roles for both government and private sector. Boundaries between public and private services are blurring, enabling government and private sector to collaborate and share responsibilities. In Belgium, the regional Government of Flanders embedded the re-use of public sector information in its legislation and published a data portal containing well over 4000 Open Datasets. Due to a lack of interoperability, interconnecting and interpreting these sources of information remain challenges for public administrations, businesses and citizens. To dissolve the boundaries between the data silos, the Flemish government applied Linked Data design principles in an operational public sector context. This paper discusses the trends we have identified while ‘rewiring’ the Authentic Source for addresses to a Linked Base Registry. We observed the impact on multiple interoperability levels; namely on the legal, organisational, semantic and technical level. In conclusion Linked Data can increase semantic and technical interoperability and lead to a better adoption of government information in the public and private sector. We strongly believe that the insights from the past thirteen years in the region of Flanders could speed up processes in other countries that are facing the complexity of raising technical and semantic interoperability.

Revisiting open data research through the Lens of the Data Value Chain

While the idea of open government data is not new, there appears to be a constant shift in leading research objectives guiding the field. This is because the reasons behind the increased research interest keep changing. The latest motivation stems from economic arguments, namely the reuse of public sector information) – which in turn creates a market for open-data based value added services. Although over the last decade many research topics have been identified and various research agendas have been proposed, most of them either focus on specific areas or are rooted in the popular approach of the time. Using the idea of the data value chain, this paper provides an integrated view of open government data research – which then allows a systematic and consistent identification of research topics and clarification of corresponding open questions in the area of open data quality. Research areas proposed are context/environment (policy and regulations), supply side (government organizations), consumer side (service providers and users), (societal or economic) impact, and technology (supporting the DSC, including the data). In addition – and what is regularly missing from most reviews – theory (providing definitions and a sound base) is considered as the sixth area.

AMENDMENTS TO THE ACT ON MUSEUMS

The Act of 21 November 1996 on museums, which has been in force for over 20 years (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 972, as amended), has been amended dozen or more times. Seven of these amendments entered into force in the last two years (2016–2017). They were to a large extent of adjustment character, and concerned inter alia the competence requirements for museum professionals (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 60), removals of museum exhibits from museum inventory (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 1330, and of 2017, item 1086) and the Council of Museums being replaced by the Council of Museums and Memorial Sites (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 749). Amendments concerning the admission charges in museums were of systemic character (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 132) as well as the restitution amendments introduced in Article 57 of the Act of 25 May 2017 on restitution of the national cultural goods, including a new penal provision added to the Act on museums (Art. 34.a in a new chapter 5.a – Journal of Laws of 2017, item 1086). Apart from amendments described in this article, others ought to be mentioned – related to an informative aspect. In this context, the amendments to the Act on museums being in force since 16 June 2016, provided for in Article 29 of the Act of 25 February 2016 on the re-use of public sector information (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 352, as amended) are of great significance. References to this Act can be found in section 4 of Art. 25 and section 4 of Art. 25.a of the Act on museums, added by this amendment, which regulate introducing and charging fees for museum exhibits being prepared and made accessible for different from usual purposes, and for permitting to use their images. Article 31.a of the Act on museums added by this amendment has been repealed by the Art. 34 of the Act of 10 June 2016 on delegating customer services to employees (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 132). The latter Act added Article 30.a of the Act on museums, related in its contents to this regulation. It states that the access to information for safeguarding museum exhibits is limited for the sake of protection from fire, theft and other type of danger which could bring damage or loss of the museum collection.

Raising Interoperability Among Base Registries: The Evolution of the Linked Base Registry for Addresses in Flanders

The transformation of society towards a digital economy and government austerity creates a new context leading to changing roles for both government and private sector. Boundaries between public and private services are blurring, enabling government and private sector to collaborate and share responsibilities. In Belgium, the regional Government of Flanders embedded the re-use of public sector information in its legislation and published a data portal containing well over 4000 Open Datasets. Due to a lack of interoperability, interconnecting and interpreting these sources of information remain challenges for public administrations, businesses and citizens. To dissolve the boundaries between the data silos, the Flemish government applied Linked Data design principles in an operational public sector context. This paper discusses the trends we have identified while ‘rewiring’ the Authentic Source for addresses to a Linked Base Registry. We observed the impact on multiple interoperability levels; namely on the legal, organisational, semantic and technical level. In conclusion Linked Data can increase semantic and technical interoperability and lead to a better adoption of government information in the public and private sector. We strongly believe that the insights from the past thirteen years in the region of Flanders could speed up processes in other countries that are facing the complexity of raising technical and semantic interoperability.

Reconsidering the Exemption for Educational and Research Establishments Under the Directive on Re-Use of Public Sector Information (2003/98/EC; 2013/37/EU) Possible Ways and Legal Consequences

The article discusses the possibilities of including public research and educational establishments within the scope of the Directive regulating the re-use of public sector information (‘PSI Directive’). It subsequently evaluates the legal consequences of such an inclusion. Focusing on scientific information, the analysis connects the long-standing debates about open access and open education to open government data. Their common driving force is the call for a widespread dissemination of publicly funded information. However, the regulatory standard set out by the PSI Directive is characterized by considerable legal uncertainty. Therefore, it is difficult to derive robust assumptions that can form the basis for predicting the effects of extending the PSI Directive’s scope to research information. A potential revision of the PSI Directive should reduce this uncertainty. Moreover, PSI regulation must account for the specific incentives linked to the creation and dissemination of research results. This seems of primary importance for public-private research collaborations because there is a potential risk that a full application of the PSI Directive might unduly change incentives for such collaborations.

ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMS RELATED TO IMPLEMENTING THE PROVISIONS OF THE ACT ON THE REUSE OF PUBLIC-SECTOR INFORMATION AT MUSEUMS

The article discusses both the legal and factual problems related to the necessity of implementing the provisions of the Act on the reuse of public sector information (PSI) of 25 February 2016. The authors highlight the inaccuracies in the way the statutory provisions have been formulated, and which require urgent intervention by legislators due to their doubtful interpretation and the conflict of the Act’s provisions on reuse with those of other acts, in particular the Act on museums. They also identify the discrepancies between how museums currently share their collections and the requirements set by the Act on the reuse of PSI. Individual practical problems are discussed in separate parts of the text. The aim of the article is not to settle the doubts concerning the Act on reuse of PSI, nor to decide what museums should do in that matter, but rather to draw attention to possible ways of interpreting the provisions and the related problems.

Institutional Maximization and Path Dependency: The Delay of Implementation of the European Union Public Sector Information Directive in Sweden

The translation of the word ‘document’ in the 2003/98/EC directive on the re-use of public sector information into Swedish had several alternative words but used the word ‘handling’. The administrative law precedence for the word ‘handling’ has embedded several assumptions of the actual document, and based on a precedence that started in the 1760s the interpretation became path dependent. The Swedish case of how bureaucratic inertia and path dependence can stall the implementation of EU directives is. The Swedish government’s initial stance claimed that public sector information is not within the European Commission’s jurisdiction and driven by the definition of ‘handling’. This posture has been supported and defended by the Swedish bureaucracy, unwilling to share the information with private entities, and seeking to maximize the bureaucratic influence. The Swedish case visualizes the complexity to implement legislation pursuing information dissemination requiring the cooperation of an established path dependent bureaucracy.

Data protection legislation: A very hungry caterpillar: The case of mapping data in the European Union

The European Union's policy on open data aims at generating value through re-use of public sector information, such as mapping data. Open data policies should be applied in full compliance with the principles relating to the protection of personal data of the EU Data Protection Directive. Increased computer power, advancing data mining techniques and the increasing amount of publicly available big data extend the reach of the EU Data Protection Directive to much more data than currently assumed and acted upon. Especially mapping data are a key factor to identify individual data subjects and consequently subject to the EU Data Protection Directive and the recently approved EU General Data Protection Regulation. This could in effect obstruct the implementation of open data policies in the EU. The very hungry data protection legislation results in a need to rethink either the concept of personal data or the conditions for use of mapping data that are considered personal data.

From access to re-use

From access to re-use

From access to re-use: a user’s perspective on public sector information availability

From access to re-use: a user’s perspective on public sector information availability

Making Access to Government Data Work

The EU Directive on Re-use of Public Sector Information of 2013 (the PSI Directive) is a key instrument for open data policies at all levels of government in Member States. It sets out a general framework for the conditions governing the right to re-use information resources held by public sector bodies. It includes provisions on non-discrimination, transparent licensing and the like. However, what the PSI Directive does not do is give businesses, civil society or citizens an actual claim to access. Access is of course a prerequisite to (re)use. It is largely a matter for individual Member States to regulate what information is in the public record. This article explores what the options for the EC are to promote alignment of rights to information and re-use policy. It also flags a number of important data protection problems that have not been given serious enough consideration, but have the potential to paralyze open data policies.